Even though the Conquest Vehicles Evade is more than capable, we’d opt for its fully armored big brother, the Knight XV, when things really go downhill. The Knight possesses both luxury digs and half-track-like DNA due to its use of ballistic aluminum and glass, high strength steel, composites, aramid and ceramic that provide serious protection. Even the door hinges are reinforced and designed to not compromise armor strength. When the gas stations run dry, its huge 6.8-liter V10, bio-fuel guzzling engine will keep you from being left in the lurch. You might, however, opt to ditch the chrome wheels before you head out into the unknown. They make you look rich.

Looking sincerely G.I. Joe-inspired, the Panhard CRAB (Combat Reconnaissance Armoured Buggy) is part mini-tank, part dune buggy and all awesome. French company Panhard plans to build the CRAB as a next-generation armored recon vehicle that can withstand ballistics and has a top speed of 70 mph. The CRAB can also be equipped with a 30mm gun turret, missiles and some sweet laser-guided rockets. Kinda makes you wanna buy one just for the drive to the office.

The Finnish “Armored Mobile Vehicle” makes Humvees look like wheeled toaster ovens. The 8×8 XA-360 isn’t just road candy — it can take hits like Balboa in the 15th round. We’re talking armored blast protection of up to 22 lbs of TNT. It can also fend off 30mm armor-piercing rounds, so you’re prepared for when the jealous (well-armed) masses lust after your ride. But it’s not all duck and pray. The XA-360 can be configured with heavy weaponry such as a 120mm mortar turret or a Mobile Gun System, and its eight massive wheels adjust independently via hydraulic suspension, so if you need to traverse a pile of burning cars to refuel at the last Costco in the area, you’ll be ready. Just hope you don’t have to inflate your tires with a hand pump.

Light & Heat

Remember when campfires were quaint?

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ire and the heat it generates are more about comfort, light and protection from the wilds than anything else, at least in the earlier phases of our plans, thanks to the aforementioned supplies of MREs. But the ability to make flames on demand is still of critical importance. Wood is typically the most prevalent naturally occurring combustion fuel out there, and it should be around long after “modern” fuel sources have dried up. The classic Swedish FireSteel is good for more than 1,500 strikes and can provide a spark to kindling on demand. A magnesium fire starter block trumps the fire steel, since it can light even wet wood — but it does diminish over time as the block is “shaved” down.

He cherished the flame carefully and awkwardly. It meant life, and it must not perish. The withdrawal of blood from the surface of his body now made him begin to shiver, and he grew more awkward. A large piece of green moss fell squarely on the little fire. He tried to poke it out with his fingers, but his shivering frame made him poke too far, and he disrupted the nucleus of the little fire, the burning grasses and tiny twigs separating and scattering.
– Jack London, “To Build a Fire”

Wood-burning stoves are a great way to safely start fires for heat and cooking in the home. Picking up a residential model with a catalytic combustor is a question of give or take. They’re more efficient and help eliminate the smoke and odor associated with a fire — meaning you’re less likely to reveal your location to unwanted wanderers. But they also require more maintenance. Smaller options, like the StoveTec Stove line, are durable, long lasting solutions that can migrate with you. Backpacking style models like the SoloStoveare the ideal choice for days away from the home base.

Orion Signal Flares / Fire Starters should be kept on hand and used sparingly — largely for their effect as an emergency signal. Since they burn for five minutes at over 34,000 degrees, they’ll also help quickly light fires in the bleakest scenarios — just like putting the back of the Batmobile to a pile of dry garbage.

On the light front, a good LED headlamp is always a smart idea since it illuminates what you’re doing while keeping your hands free to work. Any LED AAA-powered model in the Petzle Tikka line is a great choice thanks to the inclusion of red LEDS in addition to traditional white. Using the red LEDs alone can help maintain night vision while still letting you see what you need. The Mammut T-Trail + Ambient Light Dry Bag is another nifty setup that combines a useful dry bag with a reliable headlamp to create a makeshift lantern for ambient lighting.

Options like the SwissLight rechargeable personal light and the Nightstar Shake Flashlight are viable solutions when batteries eventually die. The Swisslight doesn’t offer a ton of light with its one LED, but its small size and integrated solar panel make it a great everyday carry. The Nightstar Flashlight provides up to 20 minutes of light with 25-30 seconds of shaking. It’s also waterproof up to a depth of 2200 feet.

Hat Tip: Gear Patrol

I make no recommendations about this material I only present it was presented on Gear Patrol.

Food

The good days of complaining about mom’s meatloaf are over

T

winkies are officially kaput, so you’ll need an alternative means of sustenance over the long haul. Plenty of companies offer extended supplies of freeze-dried food — but these tap into your water supply and still require cooking to eat, which in turn requires fuel of some sort. For these reasons, a year’s supply of MREs (meals ready to eat) is a better option for transitional stores. The self-contained meals require no cooking, can be eaten hot or cold and have a shelf life of five years, providing a reliable nutrition window until you can begin sustainable food cultivation on your own.

“The duration of survival without food is greatly influenced by factors such as body weight, genetic variation, other health considerations and, most importantly, the presence or absence of dehydration. At the age of 74 and already slight of build, Mahatma Gandhi survived 21 days of total starvation while only allowing himself sips of water.” – Alan D. Lieberson, M.D. for Scientific American

Lasting beyond your MREs will depend on a green thumb and gathering skills. Buying a variety of non-hybrid, non-GMO (non-genetically modified organism) vegetable seeds is a must for any future gardening plans. These are commonly referred to as Heirloom seeds, but that’s a generic bit of branding — so don’t buy off of the Heirloom labeling alone. You want non-GMO because genetically modified plants are often sterile (Monsanto doesn’t give a damn about your end of the world preps). You want non-hybrid because these seeds are open-pollinated, passed down through generations, and true to type. This means you can save the seeds from the resulting crops to plant the next harvest, and you’ll get the same plant. Buy enough to plant a few acres at max, and you’ll have an excellent starting point for a lifetime a food. If you can fish, hunt or gather, you might even avoid dying as a vegetarian.

To store that home-grown produce, it’s a good idea to take up canning, which turns fruits and vegetables into still-tasty, one- to five-year sustenance goldmines. The combination of airtight containers (like glass jars, which you can stock up on and shouldn’t be that hard to locate even once the world takes a nose dive) and pre-boiling food before it goes on a long vinegar nap prevents pretty much any contamination from microorganisms. Curing (simply an intense dry rub process involving salt, sugar and nitrates) adds a similar level of longevity to meats. Together, both preservation methods are the perfect way to survive a holed-up, food-short winter.

Hat Tip: Gear Patrol

I make no recommendations about this material I only present it was presented on Gear Patrol.

Water

A resource that’ll finally get the respect it deserves

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ater is the most important survival resource of all; unfortunately, guaranteeing prolonged access to it is nearly impossible unless you live near a freshwater lake or river. Ideally, before doomsday strikes you’ve had the foresight to stock up a hefty supply in the form of a 1,000 gallon plastic tank filled with potable tap water from your home’s mainline. Plastic is important, as it’s less likely than metal to react to the water within. Based on a rate of consumption of a gallon a day per family member — that means no hour-long showers for your daughter — this supply would last a mindful family of three for a year. Store it in a cool, dark place, away from hydrocarbon fumes like gas or kerosene, which may adversely interact with the plastic over time.

According to the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), two percent of the earth’s water is fresh. Of that supply, the glaciers and ice caps of Greenland & Antarctica contain about 70% of this total supply. Nearly 50% of the world’s freshwater lakes are located in Canada alone — so there’s finally a reason to visit beyond Poutine.

If you plan on stockpiling for more than a year, your tap water should be treated with a small amount of unscented household bleach that contains 5.25% sodium hypochlorite for preservation. One teaspoon of bleach will disinfect five gallons. A 1,000 gallon tank needs a full pint. Pour it in and stir for 30 minutes. When the bleach smell fades, you’re good to go. It doesn’t sound great, but this method is actually quite effective at killing bacteria and viruses — and it won’t kill you — we swear.

Beyond initial supplies, the next best logical step is to create potable water via gravity water filters. Boiling and distillation are the absolute best methods for purifying water in a pinch, but both require that the water is heated to work — and cut into fuel supplies. Gravity filters, on the other hand, require no heat or power source, have zero moving parts (so they’re less prone to breakage) and can be left to work without supervision. Big Berkey Waterfilters make great, large scale gravity filter systems for the home. Each filter is good for roughly 3,000 gallons of pure water, and many of their larger models rely on multiple filters to treat water faster. That’s a great use life, but you’ll still obviously need to stock up on plenty of filters to survive for years. The Platypus Gravityworks Filter System provides the same benefits in a portable package for jaunts away from your basecamp. Remember to stock up on filters though for this solution as well.

Solar distillers are the ultimate long-term water solution, because they even ditch the need for filters — but they’re also slow and depend on sunlight. DIY types could potentially create one on their own. A few folks also sell models.

Hat Tip: Gear Patrol

I make no recommendations about this material I only present it was presented on Gear Patrol.

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Back in October, 26-year old British artist and taxidermist Adele Morse sold her badly mangled fox on eBay for 330 pounds ($536, or 16,000 Russian rubles). The fox died of natural causes, and the job wasn't perfect... but he has character, Morse wrote in the eBay post, complete with multiple photographs of the failed attempt.

Soon after, Morse found her inbox flooded with messages from Russia. Her old side project had become an Internet celebrity and meme almost over night, now known as the "drug-addicted (or Stoned) Fox."

As the Russian news broadcast below explains, the Stoned Fox has ripped the Russian Internet (specifically the Russian social network RuNet) apart, with the newspaper Metro even declaring it the winner of the Internet in 2012.

Prepping is just another name for insurance. Insurance without a salesman, insurance that if you never need the insurance, you get to keep all the cool stuff and you get to retain the knowledge and skills for the rest of your life.

CAUTION: The image below depicts graphic violence against women. PLEASE DO NOT VIEW if you have any medical conditions or are susceptible to violent images.

Al Jazeera's Cenk Uygur from Current TV is now promoting extreme violence against women as depicted below from a screen capture of this disgusting violent act.

One wonders if there will be any violent acts perpetrated against women after the airing of the show last night.

Perhaps Al JAzeera needs to understand that in America, we do not condone violent acts against women, we do not honor kill them, burn them alive, mutilate their genitals or forcibly jam our elbows into their throats.

Cenk Uygur, Current TV and AL Jazeera needs to issue an apology to the women of the United States and to all women of the world that are victims of violence. There is too much violence against women in the world, it should not be promoted on American Television Channels.

Violence against women is a violation of women's human rights. Violence directed against women by their intimate partners (current or former spouses, boyfriends, dating partners) or violence depicted on television shows is an epidemic of global proportions that has devastating physical, emotional, financial and social effects on women, children, families and communities around the world.

Now that Al Jazeera owns Current TV, one wonders if violence against women will become a common theme on the show. It is another truly sad day for American media standards and for the cause of protecting women against violent acts.

I originally saw this video at The Daily Time Waster, it inspired me to buy my own bow, and I have to say, I am loving it. To draw the string back and let the arrow fly is an amazing feeling. It is very visceral to feel the bow pull the arrow and the arrow leap with great zeal and authority towards its target. It is a very gratifying and exciting feeling. In my teens I read the Gor Novels by John Norman, and it may have been Bosk of Gor, where Bosk used a long bow to atttack ships on a river, the bow was so strong that it passed through the victim and it totally spooked the crew because they did not know how people were getting killed. Anyways, this scene was very exciting to me and stuck in my head to this day. If you have not tried archery, give it a shot, it is well worth it.